pakistan

Pakistan has made a lot of progress this year in wiping out polio. There are signs that one type of poliovirus is gone and transmission of other strains seems to be slowing. But a recent outbreak of polio there has health officials concerned about the overall effectiveness of the effort to eliminate polio in that country. The World Health Organization says 10 cases of so-called vaccine-derived polio were reported in Pakistan between the end of August and the end of October. What's that? The...

Tayyeb Afridi is a journalist from the Federally Administered Tribal Area of Pakistan, a region that borders Afghanistan. He visited KUT in May 2011 on a US Pakistan Journalism Exchange through the International Center for Journalists . You can read his blog at tayyebafridi.blogspot.com . A local radio station in Pakistan’s unsettled tribal area shows how important media can be in spreading awareness of the importance of education. About 180 new students turned up at one government school in the town of Razmak in North Waziristan after the local radio station broadcast announcements telling parents that education in government schools was free. Most local parents thought they would have to pay for schooling. ﻿﻿﻿ Razmak Radio was established in 2006 to bridge the gap between people and their government. It has started a public service announcement (PSA) campaign to educate people on development issues. It designed PSAs in March and broadcast them throughout the month to motivate local people to enroll their children in school.

Samreen Ghauri is a Pakistani journalist visiting the U.S. on a fellowship under the U.S.-Pakistan Professional Partnership in Journalism. The program is run by the International Center for Journalists in Washington D.C. and is funded by the U.S. State Department. Here’s Samreen’s thoughts on U.S. politics this election season. Attending a Texas House of Representatives committee meeting and a press conference with Governor Rick Perry in one day – all against the ongoing backdrop of the U.S. presidential debates – I felt the true democratic, liberal force that makes America a prosperous country and role model to countries around the world. Democracy aims for social justice, equal opportunity, and people’s rights of liberty. Citizens’ political ideas, values, and beliefs are important components in democracy everywhere, especially in societies undergoing a democratic transition. This is my impression of the American society I have been observing for the last two weeks. Here in America, in a middle of a presidential campaign, I see politics and the democratic process being debated everywhere.

"The people of Austin are overwhelmingly friendly, warm and open to the acceptance of other cultures." That's one takeaway from visiting Pakistani journalist Samreen Ghauri, who attended the Austin City Limits Music Festival this weekend. Below, read Samreen’s thoughts about ACL, Austin’s role as the “Live Music Capital,” and how music can help bridge cultural divides. The annual Austin City Limits Music Festival actually has no limits. No limits to the fun, music, and food, but more importantly, no limit to the company of loved ones. The festival truly depicts the American way of life: enjoying life with a full sprit and enthusiasm. I easily connected with the festival, because in Pakistan we have similar events. I belong to a traditional eastern society that has a rich cultural and musical heritage. In our society, music is a large part of daily life: at religious occasions, social events and cultural gatherings, music is always on.

Samreen Ghauri is a visiting journalist from Pakistan. KUT News asked Samreen to share her thoughts on the Taliban’s attack on a young Pakistani girl who was fighting to educate girls in her region. The Taliban’s attack on 15-year-old Malala Yusuf Zia is symbolic of the battle between liberal, democratic forces and religious fundamentalism in Pakistan. Pakistani civil society – common people, liberal and bright-minded – stand together and strongly condemn this barbaric crime. NPR reports that the Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack against Malala. NPR writes : Pakistan's Dawn newspaper says it has been told by a spokesman for the Taliban that the girl was targeted for spreading "anti-Taliban and 'secular' thoughts among the youth of the area." Malala, Dawn says, was "hit by couple of bullets to her neck and head." While hospitalized, she is said to be "out of danger." She may, though, need to be sent overseas for treatment . The Taliban reportedly say they'll target her again .

Samreen Ghauri is a visiting journalist from Pakistan. She works primarily in radio journalism, producing and reporting special features for the NBS current affairs channel of Radio Pakistan , which covers 80 percent of the geographic area of Pakistan. She received her masters degree in mass communications from the University of Sindh, and has achieved numerous certificates on additional topics including gender, women’s empowerment, media, reproductive and sexual health rights, human rights and political education. She is visiting KUT as part of a program sponsored by the International Center for Journalists . "In 2010, studying in the city of Manila in the Philippines, I discovered radio as the most effective tool of communication in the South Asia region," Ghauri says. "I developed materials for various organizations to communicate their advocacy issues using electronic and social media but primarily radio, which can reach the most people of all." In my short time here, I’ve found Austin is a fantastic place to live and work. People are so nice and kind. I was excited when I learned that Austin is also known as the Live Music Capital of the World. Music is also a core part of our culture. Whether it is a social occasion, religious Sufi gathering, or piece of family folklore, music always comes up to help express peoples’ sentiments. Pakistan also has a rich heritage of performing arts; the music of Pakistan includes diverse elements featuring multiple cultural influences and strong folk culture.

Tayyeb Afridi is a journalist from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, a region that borders Afghanistan. He visited KUT in May 2011 on a US Pakistan Journalism Exchange through the International Center for Journalists. You can read more of KUT News Pakistan coverage . In Peshawar, I met a radio talk show listener Haji Noor Zaman, who is 60 years old and is displaced from Khyber Agency due to operation against militants. I asked: Do you still listen to radio? He said yes, he is listening but only to news bulletins from Radio Deewa. Radio Deewa is U.S. government-sponsored radio. I asked whats new. He said America has diverted its cannon facing Baluchistan and has built up its human rights case against Pakistan.

Tayyeb Afridi is a journalist from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, a region that borders Afghanistan. He visited KUT in May 2011 on a US Pakistan Journalism Exchange through the International Center for Journalists. You can read more of KUT News Pakistan coverage . An international media development organization in Pakistan trained broadcasters from the countrys Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on public service announcements during a training program held in Islamabad, Pakistan. Broadcasters from local radio stations attended the five-day, hands-on training exercise. While PSAs are widely used elsewhere in the world, they have never been used by these stations in Pakistan.

KUT News director Emily Donahue traveled through Pakistan with nine other journalists this month on a trip organized by the International Center for Journalists. Here in Austin, the concerns over adequate and equitable K-12 education are numerous: from education funding cuts under the 82 nd legislature; math, science and other curricula; whether charter schools best serve all students in a district; academic testing for state standards; bilingual education. The list of challenges facing educators, legislators, agencies, parents and students is long and complicated. And yet, those issues pale in comparison to the education issues facing Pakistan. The issues are so great that most Austinites probably have no frame of reference.

KUT News director Emily Donahue traveled through Pakistan with nine other reporters this month on a trip organized by the International Center for Journalists. In my whirlwind tour of Pakistan through Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, I kept running into Austin connections. A former University of Texas Fullbright Scholar in Lahore, a Public Affairs Graduate in Karachi (who told me of a failed Longhorn bar there), several businessmen with family ties in Austin, and a school for the poor, funded by Pakistanis in Austin, and named the Austin School. You can see a couple of photos taken along the way above.

KUT News director Emily Donahue traveled through Pakistan with nine other reporters this month on a trip organized by the International Center for Journalists. In Pakistan, the poverty is breathtaking. This is a country of opposites. The rich are very rich, and the poor live in poverty unlike anything in the United States. People live by the millions in crumbling buildings on the outskirts of cities, in tents, in windowless shacks with mud floors and cloth strung as roofs side by side with animals; on the streets, in the parks, on garbage dumps, in canals; on dusty, empty roads, in fields. Alone and with families, among strangers, or not. In this nation of 180 million people, with so many millions living in desperate conditions, it is the millions of children affected by this poverty that stirred my compassion and my frustration. My first night here, I naively asked why so many children were on the streets alone in the daytime, and out, again alone, so late at night. Why arent they in school, I asked? Education is a complicated thing here, I was told. The system doesnt work.

KUT News director Emily Donahue is traveling through Pakistan with nine other reporters on a trip organized by the International Center for Journalists. Pakistans modern media outlets were launched in 2002 with the establishment of PEMRA ( Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority ). Since then roughly 2,500 media licenses have been granted. There are 85 TV channels. Twenty of them are news. The vast majority of programming is delivered by cable with no subscription fees. Everyone weve spoken to from government ministers to ordinary citizens and journalists -- says the media is playing a crucial role in developing Pakistans democracy.

KUT News director Emily Donahue is traveling through Pakistan with nine other reporters on a trip organized by the International Center for Journalists. At a recent trip to the Pakistan National Heritage Museum , the journalists on our exchange program started dancing with local men and boys to the traditional music. (It is not customary for women to dance.) The event created camaraderie, much laughter, and made it into the local news.

Today we did a lot of sightseeing and meetings in Lahore. We traveled to the border with India to see the Wagah Border Ceremony . It takes place every every evening at the border between Pakistan and India. It was quite a wild ceremony. On each side of the border, crowds gather in the grand stands, beginning about an hour before the ceremony. We attended the evening flag lowering ceremony on the Pakistan side of the border. The Wagah Border slices through a village that sits in both India and Pakistan. It was divided in 1947 at Partition when Pakistan and India formally separated into two separate countries. Heres some background and video from PBS:

KUT News director Emily Donahue is traveling through Pakistan with nine other reporters on a trip organized by the International Center for Journalists. You may be familiar with the sound of the South Asian sitar. Its a hanting, somewhat mesmerizing stringed instrument. At the Sanjan Nagar Institute of Philosophy and Arts in Lahore theyve adapted the instrument and molded it into the Sagar Veena . From the Institutes website: Headed by Mohammed Riaz, a instrument-maker belonging to a family of craftsmen dating back to the 19th century. He, along with Raza Kazim and other members of the department, have set a two-fold precedent in the field of Instrument Making. One introducing the above mentioned knowledge in the production of Sagar Veena, a new musical instrument for Indian Classical Music.

KUT News director Emily Donahue is traveling through Pakistan with nine other reporters on a trip organized by the International Center for Journalists. Today, we went to the Faisal Mosque , the national mosque of Pakistan. It was funded in the 1960s by King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is situated at the base of the Margalla Hills in Islamabad. The mountains ring the city on the northwest and on the other side are Pakistans northwest territories. I was told that the Margallas were named for the thieves and bandits who, hundreds of years ago, hid in the caves and attacked, or hit (Mar) travelers and cut their throats (gullas). Although Ive met with some skepticism from Pakistanis when I shared that story.

KUT News director Emily Donahue is traveling through Pakistan with nine other reporters on a trip organized by the International Center for Journalists. We met with officials at the Pakistan Planning Commission early today. It is the site of Pakistans first on-site solar power installation. It is funded by Japan . This installation and another will produce power for the B block of government offices, with excess flowing into the grid. Pakistan has an extremely unreliable energy grid. Rolling power outages are common is Islamabad.

Im traveling through Pakistan with nine other journalists from various news organizations in the United States. The International Center for Journalists is sponsoring this trip as part of its three-year program to expose journalists from both countries to each others newsrooms and foster better understanding between the two countries. Here are the people in the group: Bob Gabordi from the Tallahassee Democrat , Gregory Victor from the Pittsburg Post-Gazette , Joe Little with 10 News in San Diego , Nancy San Martin with the Miami Herald , Odette Yousef from WBEZ in Chicago , Richard Gootee from the Evansville Courier & Press , Mark Seibel from McClatchy News , Stephen Magagnini from the Sacramento Bee , and Babar Taimoor from the International Center for Journalists.

In one of the most volatile regions in the world, a 131 mile journey lasting more than four hours and a lone child not yet 9 this is Shafis story. You may wonder how a mother could let her child a brave the treacherous journey alone. But for Shafi-ud-dins mother, there was no other choice.

Tayyeb Afridi is a Pakistani journalist from the Federally Administered Tribal Area of Pakistan. He visited KUT on a US Pakistan Journalism Exchange through the International Center for Journalists . It was May 7, 2006 that, as a team, we started transmission of Radio Khyber. It was located within Khyber Agency, one among seven districts of Pakistans Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in the Northwestern part of the country. I started transmitting with a passion to empower local people and give them voices. Voices which had been kept silent since 1901, the day the colonial empire of India promulgated the Frontier Crime Regulation (FCR) in FATA. The FCR was designed by British, who used the regions own tribal traditions and social psyche to rule ruthlessly over the territory. All of the sections of this law, which to this day are still intact in tribal areas, are authoritarian. One among them was a ban on freedom of expression.